Various devices are known that serve to measure the length of an object and that can also be adapted to measure the perimeter of all or part of the object, whether the object be of polygonal or smoothly curved shape. In order, for instance, to fit a shoe, hat, or glove, it is often necessary not only to take one or more length measurements of the body part to which the item will fit, but also to measure the perimeter of at least a portion of the body part. For a shoe the length of the foot plus the perimeter of the heel is important, while for a hat the perimeter of the head is critical and for a glove both the hand length and the fist perimeter are needed. When only the foot length measurement is used to fit a shoe, for instance, the result is often a relatively bad fit unless the perimeter of the metatarsophalangian joint is taken into account.
To date any device that is used in taking such measurements is fairly crude, typically being a simple flexible tape measure. In most cases it can normally only be used to take one single measurement, normally length, and any other measurements must be done with different equipment. Templates might be used to judge perimeter while a standard gauge is used for length, with the person making the measurements having to switch from one device to the other when doing the measure up.